


Two Weeks

by orphan_account



Series: Civil Law [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 07:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5958805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mini prequel to Civil Law. Captain America meets the Daredevil, unaware of Matt's double life. Bucky comes back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Weeks

They weren’t in a relationship, exactly, but they weren’t dating other people. They had been seeing a lot of each other in the past year, but Steve wasn’t sure if he could classify any of their outings as  _ dates  _ \- not without Matt present to confirm or deny.

If they  _ were  _ dating - which Steve was beginning to suspect was the case - then this was something Matt should’ve told him, or at least something that Steve would have wanted to know upfront. It didn’t seem very fair: Matt knew all about Steve’s being Captain America -  _ but so does the rest of the world _ , Steve reasoned. It hadn’t been his choice to have his identity revealed, and if he had had any say in the matter, he would have wanted his own private, personal life - just like Matt did, having the privilege of being normal, everyday attorney Matt Murdock in addition to wearing the Daredevil costume.

A tentative knock at his front door pulled Steve out of his musings. It was a jarring sight: Matt in the sinister red outfit with his cowl down, the handsome, unshaven, familiar face seemingly superimposed on a stranger’s body.

“Can I come in?” Matt asked, stepping gingerly over the threshold when Steve moved aside. He tugged off his gloves and set them down on the back of Steve’s couch. “I take it you’ve got questions?”

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

Matt gave a rueful shrug. “I don’t know. I’ve never told anybody.”

“Foggy? Karen?”

“No.”

“Claire?”

“Not by choice.”

For a long moment, all Steve could do was stare. Matt began to shift uncomfortably under the scrutiny, raking his fingers back through his matted hair.

“I realize,” he said, rubbing at the back of his neck, “that this changes things.”

He looked unhappy and unsettled, and Steve wanted to comfort him somehow. “It’s not... I just didn’t think I’d ever be with someone else in the... business. It was kinda nice, having some semblance of  _ normal  _ in my life.”

“Do you want to stop seeing each other?” Matt asked in a small voice.

“No! God, no!” He took one of Matt’s hands, ice cold from the windy weather, and pressed a hard kiss to his knuckles. “I’m sorry, I’m just not really sure what to say.”

“If it’s a problem for you, we should talk about it.”

“It’s not a problem. I’m a little bit hurt that you didn’t tell me, but I understand why. If I had the choice, I would want to keep my regular life and my Avengers life separate. I’m not angry, just... stunned, is all.” He laced their fingers together and looked Matt up and down. “You look really good in the costume.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Matt replied, giving him a small smile. He stepped closer to Steve and brushed a soft kiss over his lips. “You think you know someone until he puts you in a chokehold.”

Steve suddenly remembered that they’d actually  _ fought _ \- hand to hand, no holding back. He unfastened the front of Matt’s costume and pulled it open, lifting up the black shirt underneath and frowning at the huge, blossoming bruise where only hours ago he’d hit Matt hard in the side.

“Are you okay?” he asked, brushing careful fingers over the mark.

Matt shrugged. “Bruised ribs. No big deal.” He took Steve’s face in his hands and pulled him into another kiss. “I’ve had worse.”

“Doesn’t make it all right.”

“It’s okay, babe. You didn’t know.”

Steve hummed. “Like it when you call me that.”

“I know.” He lowered his hands to the hem of Steve’s shirt and pushed them up underneath it.

“I’m so sorry,” Steve said, jumping a bit at Matt’s cold hands on his skin and then finding he liked the feeling. “I’ll never hurt you again.”

Matt wrapped his arms around Steve’s waist and pressed himself up against Steve’s body. “You can make it up to me.”

They'd been having sex for a few months now - really intense, incredible, athletic sex that was just now beginning to make sense to Steve. The only other person who’d come close to matching Steve’s stamina in the bedroom had been Bucky. Matt was near insatiable, and the novelty of it aroused Steve beyond reason.

But - accustomed to being roughed up in a fight or no - Matt  _ was  _ injured. Despite his evident efforts, he couldn’t quite conceal the limp in his stride or the hitch in his breathing. The first time Matt had broken free of Steve’s grip, Steve had stopped pulling his punches. He winced to think now on how he’d slammed Matt hard into the solid brick of a wall. He remembered Matt spitting out a mouthful of blood before dodging Steve’s next swing.

Thinking back on the fight, Matt’s moves had all been evasive. He’d known exactly who Steve was and hadn’t once lifted an offensive hand. It made Steve feel even worse about it all. He pressed his face into the side of Matt’s neck and sighed, wrapping one careful hand around the back of Matt’s neck.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again.

“It’s okay. I’m fine.”

“Will you let me look you over, at least?”

“I’m fine, Steve.”

Now that he had Matt in his arms and could feel the tremors and the short, stuttering breath, he knew that the exact opposite was true. “You can barely stand. Just let me do something for your ribs and you can lay down for a while, okay?”

Matt took a step back and frowned. “Please don’t start doing this.”

“Helping you?”

“Talking to me like I can’t take care of myself.”

“I didn’t mean that-”

“Because I can. Okay? I don’t need you looking out for me.” Matt pulled away from him and refastened all the buckles of his costume. “Just because I’m not an Avenger doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Please don’t go.” Steve took hold of Matt’s forearms. “I wasn’t trying to talk down to you.”

Matt put his teeth into his wet lower lip, lowering his eyes to the floor and seeing nothing, as Steve moved his hands down to lace their fingers again. “I know. I didn’t mean to snap at you,” he said. “Anyway, I should probably get home; I’ve got an early meeting.”

“You can stay here, and leave in the morning.”

“I don’t wanna put you out. And I kinda want to be alone tonight; just stopped in to talk.”

“Okay,” Steve said, letting go of Matt’s hands and stepping back. “May I kiss you goodnight?” he asked timidly.

Matt gave him another small smile and nodded, tilting his head back and accepting Steve’s lips with a gentle sigh.

“I really like you, Steve,” he murmured.

_ I love you _ , Steve wanted to say. Because it was true. He knew it was probably way too soon, that he should probably be way more careful with his heart, but he couldn’t help how he felt. Before they’d started seeing each other, they’d been friends. They were friends when Steve had found out that Bucky survived and Matt became a constant, grounding presence in his life. It was around that time that he’d realized how much he needed Matt. The rest was inevitable. “I like you, too,” he said, dropping another soft kiss to Matt’s lips, and then another.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he said, moving around Matt to open the front door.

“Yeah, you will.”

And then the cowl was up, and Matt took off at a steady, if uneven, pace down the hall.

***

Bucky came back on Steve and Matt’s two-week anniversary. They’d technically been together for almost two  _ years  _ at this point, but hadn’t made the relationship official until recently.

“You need to go to him - go right now, get out of here,” Matt had said when Steve got the phone call. They’d just settled down to eat at one of their favorite places: a dingy little diner in Queens that served homemade cheesecake and killer burgers. They hadn’t even ordered.

“Are you sure?” Steve had asked.

“It’s our two-week anniversary,” Matt had replied, trying to impart how ridiculous the occasion was - more of an excuse to eat good food and spend time together than anything serious. “I’ll get a cheesecake to go and you can come over later, if you’re up to it.”

“You’re the best.” Steve had placed a thankful hand on his shoulder as he left the diner and then drove straight to the Tower.

Bucky looked a lot better than the last time Steve had seen him - when he’d shot Steve twice in the gut and nearly beat him into a coma. His hair was still too long, but he had color in his cheeks and he was  _ here  _ and  _ alive _ .

They’d been sitting together on the couch in a private room, Bucky telling him in a low voice about where he’d been and what he’d done since they’d last seen each other, when - without any warning - Bucky reached out and slipped his shaking hand into Steve’s.

“Is this okay?” he asked softly.

When Steve didn’t respond, Bucky scooted closer, pressing his knee to Steve’s and placing their joined hands atop Steve’s thigh.

“I wish I could’ve come back to you sooner,” he said, ducking his head and catching Steve’s eyes. “I really wanted to.”

With his too-long hair pushed out of his face, he looked so much more like the man Steve remembered. A sudden rush of intense, inappropriate emotion made Steve blush and turn his gaze away.

Bucky put his fingers underneath Steve’s chin and lifted his face, regarding him for a long while before slowly leaning in.

“I can’t,” Steve said, close enough that their noses were bumping together.

Bucky touched his forehead to Steve’s and closed his eyes. “But I thought... Weren’t we... you and me...?”

“We were lovers, yeah.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, Buck, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You’re just not in love with me anymore?”

Hearing him say the words made Steve realize he was still very, very much in love with Bucky. On fire for him, in fact. His skin burned in all the places they were touching. The thought of leaning in to kiss him swelled up in Steve’s head until it was all he could think about, all he wanted.

“Or did you find someone else?” Bucky continued. “Steve?”

Steve’s throat was dry when he croaked, “Yes.”

“Which one?”

He swallowed. “Someone else.”

Here for the first time was that horrible, sickening feeling of being pulled in two different directions, manifesting so strongly in Steve that he wildly imagined he would actually be ripped apart.

Bucky’s voice seemed far away when he said, “Well... I hope he’s nice. Or she. Whatever.” Far away because he had stood up, and they weren’t close to each other or touching anymore.

“I thought you were dead,” Steve said, as if it changed anything. “I thought you’d died when you fell, and I thought I was gonna die after, when I crashed the plane.”

“Okay.”

“When I found out you were alive, Matt was such an immense, incredible help-”

Bucky grimaced. “Really don’t wanna know his name.”

“We’re not gonna talk about it?”

“Not right now.”

“When?”

Bucky shrugged. “When it doesn’t hurt so much, I guess.”


End file.
